Pistol for firing a miniature ballistic rocket



NOV. 26, 1968 T, IE ET AL 3,412,641

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United States Patent 3,412,641 PISTOL FOR FIRING A MINIATURE BALLISTICROCKET Arthur T. Biehl and Robert Mainhardt, Diablo, Ca!if., assignorsto MB Associates, a corporation of California Filed June 27, 1966, Ser.No. 560,739 Claims. (Cl. 891.812)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a pistol whichignites and initially restrains a miniature ballistic rocket beforeleaving the firing chamber in a slide at the rear end of the pistolhaving a fixed firing pin therein.

The present pistol is an improvement over that illustrated, describedand claimed in Patent No. 3,212,402 of Oct. 19, 1965, to Matthew C.Hengel which was assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

The pistol has a receiver made of two mating parts on and between whichthe various elements are assembled. A slide is provided on the rear topof the receiver which is movable rearwardly so that the miniatureballistic rockets may be moved downwardly into the magazine cavity inthe handle against a spring. The spring moves the rockets seriatim intothe slide after each firing or upon the movement of the hammer tococking position. A safety slide is provided in the handle section whichis movable upwardly over the firing point of the firing pin to preventthe accidental ignition of a rocket should it be moved backwardly towardthe firing pin point. The safety slide carries a spring which locks theslide in safety position. The slide on the frame is latched in forwardposition by a spring pressed finger which is automatically moved withina notch in one edge of the slide when the slide is moved forwardly.

A pivoted spring pressed pawl has an edge in the form of a sear locatedin a position to be engaged by a notch in the hammer when the hammer isswung downwardly to cocked position. The hammer spring is furthercompressed as the "hammer is moved out of the path of the projectile. Alink connects the pawl to the trigger by a notch which is engaged by afinger on the trigger. When the trigger is pulled the finger pushes thelever toward the pawl and thereby swings the pawl away from the hammerto have the sear edge move out of the hammer notch and permit the springto swing the hammer upwardly to strike a rocket in the slide chamber andmove it toward the firing pin. The end of the firing pin is struck bythe cap at the base of the rocket and the fuel thereof becomes ignited.The spring retains the hammer in the path of movement of the rocketuntil a force is built up by the rocket sufficient to swing the hammerout of its path into latched, cocked position as the rocket travelsforward through the barrel and out the muzzle thereof.

Acordingly, the main objects of the invention are: to provide a rocketpistol with a slide which is movable rearwardly to expose the elevatorfor rockets located within the handle and which is movable downwardlytherein against a spring; to provide a safety slide between the firingpin and projectile which is movable upwardly to cover the end of thefiring pin where it is latched by a spring finger; to provide a framefor a rocket pistol which is made of two parts of cast material with acylindrical barrel of a hard metal fixed to one-half portion of theframe; to provide a pivoted pawl within the one-half of the frame whichis spring pressed toward the hammer and limited in its outward movementto a position of engagement with a notch on the end of the hammer fromwhich it is released by a lever engaged with a finger on a trigger whenthe trigger is pulled to move the lever and pawl away from the hammer,and in general, to provide a rocket pistol which is simple inconstruction, positive in operation and economical of manufacture.

Other objects and features of novelty of the invention will bespecifically pointed out or will become apparent when referring, for abetter understanding of the invention, to the following descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a left-hand side view in elevation of a rocket pistolembodying features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a right-hand view of the rocket pistol illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a broken view of the structure illustrated in FIG. 2, showingthe slide in open position;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the inside of the section of the frameillustrated in FIG. 2 with parts in section;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view with the structure illustrated in FIG. 4,taken on the line 5-5 therein;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view showing all of the components employed in thepistol illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5, and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the handle of a frame half illustrated inFIG. 6, taken on the line 7-7 thereof.

The pistol has a frame 10 made of two halves 11 and 12. It will be notedin the exploded view of FIG. 6 that the two halves of the frame 11 and12 are shown as outside and inside views. The frame has a downwardlyextending handle section 13 and a forwardly extending barrel section 14.The two frame halves 11 and 12 are made of cast material which may beplastic, white metal and the like. The barrel section 14 has a recesssection 15 in which a tube of hard material, such as stainless steel, isbonded with a plastic or other suitable bonding material. The handlesections 13 contain a coil spring 17, having one end abutting the baseplate 18 and the upper end engaged with a magazine follower 19. Theframe half 12 has recesses to receive and support a firing pin 21 inaxial alignment with the tube 16 with its firing point 22 disposedadjacent to the follower 19. The frame also carries one of the pintlesof a hammer 23, a s-wingable pawl 24 having an edge 25, which forms asear and a finger 26 that is disposed within a slot 27 in the framehalf.

A trigger link 28 is secured on a pivot 29 of the pawl 24 to swingforwardly and backwardly therewith, the link having a stud 31 whichreceives the coil spring 32, the ends 33 of which are in engagement withthe inner face 34 of the frame half 12. The spring urges the link 28 andpawl 24 toward the hammer 23 in position to have the sear 25 engage anotch 35 on the hammer end to latch the hammer in cocked position out ofthe path of movement of the rocket. The hammer 23 is mounted on a pivot36 and a coil 37 of a spring 38 is mounted about the pivot on each sideof the ham-mer. A U-shaped portion 39 joins the two coils 37 and engagesthe rear of the hammer to have it swing counterclockwise to strike theend of a rocket 'when released. The pair of legs 41 of the spring 38bear against a pin 42 on the frame half 12. A trigger 43 is mounted on apivot 44 on the frame half 12 and is urged counterclockwise by aU-shaped spring 45 of flat material. A finger 46 extends upwardly on thetrigger in a position to engage a notch 47 on the under face of the link28 which occurs when the hammer is swung clockwise to have the notch 35engage the sear 25. The link 28 is urged counterclockwise by the spring32 which movement is limited by a boss 48 on the hammer which moves outof engagement with the link when the hammer is cooked permitting thenotch 47 to move downwardly vvhere it is engaged by the finger 46 of thetrigger.

By pulling the trigger rear-wardly, the finger 46 moves forwardly,moving the link 28 forwardly therewith and thereby moving the sear 25from the notch 35 to permit the hammer to be swung counterclockwise intothe firing position illustrated in FIG. 4. Such movement moves therocket in the chamber 49 within the slide to the rear to have its capstrike the point 22 of the firing pin 21. The firing of the cap and theignition of the propellant builds up a force rearwardly of the rocketwhich is retained from movement by the hammer 23 which remains inengagement therewith. The rocket is held in this manner until sufiicientpressure has been built up to have the projectile move forwardly andcause the clockwise rotation of the hammer into latched position. Whenthis has occurred, the next adjacent rocket within the handle magazineis moved upwardly into the chamber 49 in position to be fired 'upon thenext actuation of the trigger 23.

Since in normal operation the point 22 of the firing pin 21 is alwaysdirectly adjacent to the cap on the rocket within the slide, a safetyelement 51 is mounted in a slideway 52 which directs a cavity end 53over the point 22 to present a flat face 54 to the butt end of therocket which is out of engagement with the cap carried thereby. Theelement 51 has a knurled knob 55 which extends through a slot 56 in thereceiver half 12 which when moved upwardly moves the cavity end 53 ofthe safety element 51 upwardly to extend over the point 22 of the firingpin 21. A flat U-shaped spring 57 disposed in a recess 58 in the element51 urges the elements to the left, as viewed in FIG. 5. This movementcauses a notch 59 on the bottom left-hand corner of the element to moveover the top of the bottom edge of the slot 56 and thereby lock theelement against downward movement.

The rear end of the top edge of the two halves 11 and 12 of the framehave projections 61 received by recesses 62 in a slide 63 which isaligned with the barrel 16 of the pistol. The slide covers the metalportion 64 in the two halves of the frame which receive and support therearwardly projecting end 65 of the firing pin 21. As illustrated inFIGS. 2 and 3, the slide carries the rear partridge type sight 66 andhas a notch 67 at the bottom edge of its right-hand wall. A latch 68having a projecting finger 69 is supported on a shaft extension 71located in an aperture in the frame element 11. A flat spring 71aextends through a slot 71b in the body of the shaft extension 71 forbiasing the finger 68 upwardly toward the slide notch. When the slide ispushed forward to have the front end engage the barrel end of thepistol, the finger 69 is urged within the notch 67 to latch the slide inforward position. The latch 68 has a ball recess 710 containing a ball72 which is retained in the recess by the safety element 51 to securelylock the slide 63 from being opened when the safety element 5.1 is inOff position. It will be noticed in FIG. 5 that the ball 72 is releasedto permit the latch 68 to be released from the notch 67 when the element51 is moved upwardly into safety position. In this position a recessedportion 73 is opposite to the ball 72 permitting the ball to move to theleft out of the ball recess 710. To move the safety element 51downwardly out of safe position, the latch 68 must be moved upwardly inlatched position to permit the ball 72 to move into the recess 710 as itmoves out of the recess 73 upon the downward path of the element 51.

A sight ramp 74 is provided on the top forward barrel walls forreceiving therebetween the front sight 75 which is aligned with thesquare notch in the sight 66 on the slide when secured by a set screw70. It will be noted the slide 63 and barrel portions have apertures 76in side walls to permit the escape of the hot gases. A plurality ofscrews 77 connect the two halves 11 and 12 of the receiver together infirm fixed relation to each other. Each handle section 13 is enclosed bywall portions 78 which are arcuate in shape having a bottom flange 79and a top projection 81. Grip elements 80, which may be ivory, wood,plastic, and the like, have internal and external arcuate shapes, theformer mating with the arcuate wall of the handle sections to which theyare secured by a suitable adhesive and protected by the extending flange79 and top projection 81.

It will be noted in FIG. 1 that an arcuate slot 82 is provided in thewall of the frame half .12 through which a finger 83 on the hammer 23extends to permit the manual operation of the hammer to latchedposition. The magazine followers similarly has a projection 84 whichoperates in a slot 85 in the handle section of the frame half 12 topermit the follower 19 to be moved downwardly to assist in the loadingwhile providing visible indication of how many rockets remain within thehandle.

When the pistol is prepared for firing, the safety slide 51 is movedupwardly to release the ball 72 and permit the latch 68 to pivotdownwardly so that the slide 63 can be drawn to the rear and expose themagazine follower on which the miniature rockets are placed and moveddownwardly to tension the spring 17 against the butt end of the handlesection. After the magazine is filled, the slide 63 is moved forwardlyto retain the topmost rocket within the chamber 49 thereof. Upon theforward movement of the slide the finger 69 of the latch 68 engages thenotch 67 to retain the slide in forward position. The hammer 23 had beencocked to clear the area above the magazine follower.

To fire the weapon, the safety element 51 must be moved downwardly andin doing so, the ball 72 is moved into the recess 710 of the latchelement 68 to thereby lock the slide 63 in forward position. Since thehammer is cocked by the clockwise movement imparted thereto by theprojectile as it moves forwardly, it is only necessary to repeat thepulling of the trigger to fire all of the rockets contained within themagazine in the handle section. The pistol embodies desirable safetyfeatures and is capable of rapid fire, being constructed of a minimumnumber of rugged parts that are very durable and very cheap tomanufacture.

What is claimed is:

1. In a pistol for firing a miniature rocket, a frame having a handlesection forming a magazine for the rockets, a barrel from which a rocketis directed, a fixed firing pin carried by the frame beyond the rear endof the barrel and rearward of the rockets in the magazine, means mountedin the frame and movable to a position which prevents the firing pinfrom being engaged by a rocket, and a slide in extension of the rear ofthe barrel which uncovers the magazine and which forms a chamber inwhich the rocket is fired.

2. In a rocket pistol as recited in claim 1, wherein latch means areprovided for locking the slide in its closed position, and locking meansprovided for the latch means which prevent its release so long as thefiring pin is unprotected by said mounted means.

3. A rocket pistol as recited in claim 1, wherein a hammer, trigger anda swingable pawl are pivotally mounted within the frame, the pawl havinga sear for receiving a notch in the hammer, and a link pivotable on thepawl and movable backward and forward as the pawl swings, said linkhaving a notch which is engaged by the trigger, the hammer beingreleased when the trigger is pulled and the link moved forwardly awayfrom the hammer to swing the pawl forwardly and separate the sear fromthe notch of the hammer.

4. In a rocket pistol as recited in claim 3, wherein the movement of therocket from the pistol rotates the notch of the hammer into engagementwith the scar and moves the notch of the link forwardly and downwardlyinto engagement with the trigger to cock the hammer.

5. In a rocket pistol as recited in claim 3, wherein a projection isprovided on the hammer and the frame has an arcuate slot struck on aradius from the hammer pivot 5 6 into which the projection extends formanually cocking 3,195,408 7/1965 Sherman 89-195 the hammer. 3,212,40210/ 1965 Hengel et a1 89-1.801 References Cited 3,217,441 11/ 1965 Kerr4269 UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,270,455 9/1966 SHIFIIIIOE et a1. 4271,276,716 1918 Browning 239M195 5 33O6168 2/1967 E 89 196 1,405,7652/1922 Diehm 42 7 OTHER REFERENCES 2,7 ,8 956 man 4276 More Punch Than A.45; Rocket-Firing Small Arms, 2,7 4/1957 P Y 21 p. 133, Popular ScienceMonthly, vol. 187, No. 6. 2,959,107 11/1960 Sturtevant 4269 3,088,451 5/1963 Crosby et al 4269 10 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner.

3,184,876 5/1965 Walther 4270

